Reliable electrical connections are crucial in high power applications, such as powering of heavy electrical machinery often used in the mining, tunneling or petroleum industries, or connecting of power transportation lines. In these applications the electrical cables carry powers in the order of several kilowatts and voltages in the order of kilovolts.
Typical electrical connectors used in the art have a plurality of pins or sockets each connected to a core of an electrical cable. Depending on their specific application, the connectors must comply with a series of requirements often listed in standards and/or regulations. The compliance of the connectors with the relevant standards is generally certified by a certifying body.
The certification of a connector for a specific application does generally ensure that the connector meets the basic safety requirements in compliance with local laws. Certified connectors, although being safe to operate, often miss specific features which would provide operational advantages in specific applications.
For example, high power connectors used in demanding environments such as mining sites, are often subject to harsh treatment, and can suffer structural damage which, in severe cases, can interrupt the electrical connections of one or more of the phase connections.
Damaged connectors should be repaired promptly to avoid affecting the site operation. The first step for repairing a connector is to identify where the damage has occurred and then, if possible, replace the damaged component. High power connectors in the art do not provide features which allow an efficient inspection of the inner components of the connectors making the identification of the damage a challenging task. Further, even if the damage is identified, often it is impractical or not possible to replace the single damaged part. In this case the connector has to be replaced. Replacing electrical connectors in a mining site, for example, may critically affect the operations, in terms of efficiency and costs.